February 18, 2011

I had a strange dream last night:
1915. Early summer in Europe must look more beautiful than this. Far off in the distance, bright yellow sunlight blankets the hills, however, here by my brother and I, it is dark overhead and the thick, potent smell of a bog permeates the fog that covers the ground–everything is tinted in a muddy green color. We shoulder ourselves against large, colorless boulders for shelter and wait; you can almost hear the air crackle with tension. I look down at the ground, brushing aside some dead grass and a glow catches my eye. A quick whistle from my teeth brings my brother over and everything turns black and white. Pictures form in the glowing object; tanks rolling through the country on the outskirts of a city, massive buildings still in flames, their white pillars turned black from soot & smoke, and a sequence that moves too fast for me to comprehend aside from noting a crescent moon and swastika in the confusion.

My brother and I stare at each other; he holds up his index finger and I hold up my index & middle finger, both gestures symbolizing world war I and II. The first war has ended and we have just entered the second. Within the glow, a swastika forms again, absorbing it until no light is left. The symbol then forms into the number “70” and then into the head of an eagle, resting atop a shield. It vanishes and an eagle flies overhead; we follow it s flight path to a glass box of a house a few miles ahead. It looks about a quarter mile away from a river bank and I ask my brother how we can utilize the energy of the trees hanging over it.

Slowly, we approach the river bank, everything is in color again. To the left is the glass house, no walls, with a man sitting in a throne-like chair in the center, motionless. As we continue forward along the water, the ground begins to shift, slowly pulling a 180 degree turn; the house is further ahead of us now. We walk toward where the glow had been coming from earlier, a handful of soldiers walking with my brother and I, carrying towers of ceramic dinner plates. Without warning, a few of them break at the base, sending all of the other ones crashing to the ground in slow motion. I quickly signal at the troops with me and we all dive further into the water, which is waist deep and has tall, dry grass growing up from the mud.

The man in the glass house stands up, walks through the glass and floats over to our location. He opens his mouth to speak and wheat bushels grow out from his tongue and his eyes tint bright green. He says that he cannot grow anything on his farm because of the war, that he is forbidden from feeding us. I slowly rise from the water, making eye contact with him, planning on an attempt at negotiation. The droplets fall from my hat in a slow drip. His eyes narrow in on me, causing my eyes to fill with blue fire. I grab the wheat from his mouth, telling him that he can do as he wishes, as it is his farm, and we are hungry. Agitated, he steals the wheat back from me, balancing it on his palm and it turns to ash. He tells me that my soldiers, brother and I have little understanding of what is happening and what the war is about. I disagree with him, stating the specifics of what fueled the war and the desperation of Europe, causing him to close his eyes and point to the middle of the river. My soldiers are out there, dead, in a heap. My brother puts his hand on my shoulder and matter-of-factly states, “We will not die”. Everything cuts to black. I wake up.